Android Appalooza: It feels good to be wireless

Manage eBooks or grab files from your phone without tethering to a computer.

In this week’s Android Appalooza, we’re celebrating the great wide world of wireless. Whether it’s wirelessly syncing eBooks or files and folders, there’s no reason to find yourself tangled in cables anymore. Larger files need not pass through the microUSB port to get to your tinier screen. Well, don't get rid of your cords too quickly, you may want to charge that phone.

Calibre Companion allows you to wirelessly sync up the desktop application with your Android device over Wi-Fi. From there, you can browse your library and download books to the device, as well as delete and organize titles you already have synced up. Once your books are synced, Calibre Companion will launch the file you've transferred over in the default ebook reader on your device, so you can get straight to reading.

You can download the Calibre desktop application here for Mac or Windows.

Need a file or folder from your Android device? AirDroid lets you wirelessly manage your data from the browser on your computer. All you have to do is fire up the application, open the web address, and then enter the passcode to begin. You can also select whether to do a secure connection. As an aside, the passcode changes every time you log on.

Once you log in, the browser interface for navigating the device is super easy to use, with handy icons for most functions. There’s also the ability to search through the GooglePlay store to download apps, or send an email or text message straight from the device.

Amazon and Barnes and Noble aren't the only eBook store applications available on Google Play. Aldiko is another free application that enables users to read and download books, as well as borrow them from their local library. Aldiko also supports EPUB, PDF, and Adobe DRM encrypted eBooks and offers the same customizable reading experience that the Kindle and Nook apps do. It also features a huge catalog of free books to download, many of which are classics or other well-known modern titles. And if you’d rather not deal with advertisements, you can pay $2.99 for the premium version of Aldiko, which also unlocks highlighting and notes, as well as widgets.

30 Reader Comments

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

Are you only looking for something to stream? I use PowerAmp for stuff on my phone and Google Music to stream the rest from their service that lets you store up to 20k tracks for free.

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

Most Android phones/tablets don't have native FLAC support built in but there's a few apps on the market that can read them. Check out Winamp Pro for example. If you go the transcoding route Subsonic is pretty popular. You could also try setting up your music with a DLNA server program such as PS3 Media Server (originally for PS3, now for most everything) and a DLNA browser app.

Oh and the main exception to the blanket statement of not having FLAC support is Archos. Since they were originally in the personal music/video player market they still view their Android tablets as primarily media consumers and try to throw the kitchen sink of codecs at them. I have no personal experience with their newer devices though.

I setup my own music share to stream primarily over the internet with a homegrown Icecast stream controlled over a private webpage so I don't really use any of the solutions I offered as my use case is quite different from yours. My system would be quite clunky for just listening to music in different places at home. I think your best bet is probably the PS3 Media Server and after that if you can't find a good DLNA browser to try out Subsonic.

I tried Aldiko for a while until a friend put me onto FBReader for reading ePubs. Can't comment on if/how it handles other formats, but for ePub I find FBReader much more user friendly, especially regarding hyperlinks (footnotes and such) inside the documents.

Heh, I nearly forgot this was supposed to be a comments section for reading apps.

Check out Moon+ Reader as that is by far my favorite ePub reader on Android. It is extremely customizable and even has text to speech support in the paid version. Useful if you have to go somewhere and don't want to stop the story, just have the phone read to you while you're driving

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

Yes - it will sound crazy but keep reading :squeezeplayer is awesome. HowTo:You DO NOT NEED any logitech hardware, and my setup works like this. 1. Run the slimserver/logitechmediaserver where you have your flac files. It's cross platform, free AND free, pre-dates logitech and will even run on a few NAS. It respects tags well (AlbumArtist by default - praise be) and can optionally do cool stuff like transcode on the fly to different devices. Nice browser interface too so you can control playback from you desktop as well. 2. Buy squeezeplayer (cheap), which let's your Android device act as a playback node that the server sees identical to a real squeeze box. This app DOES NOT have playback controls, so you then need:3. A squeeze box controller app. there are a few free ones, including logitechs own, and but I have found the two best paid to be Orange squeeze (visually nice).And squeezecommander, which is grunty with a large library.

Why it's great for me:-Mature and stable -GAPLESS! -Has a proper 'now playing' queue and really effective management of it (I. E play this song or album after what's in the queue, OR play that song next then carry on as before). That suits the way I listen on tangents! -It doesn't screw up organizing albums like iThings do (if I have an album with a guest artist on one track it's not freaking various)-Can play random albums not just random songs (ie I like whole-album listening, but also just play me some album) -you can do all the same multiroom stuff as a squeezebox or sonos (mk802 as a second/third zone, playing in sync or independent) , but as you say with better and/or cheaper hardware-you can have multiple controllers of any creed: use the device that's playing permanently hooked to your amp, and your android/ios/wp* phone/tablet that's in your pocket to control it from the other room

-and in reply to the (helpful enough) comment about streaming from Google play, you can play your FLAC files full res without needing to re-encode, OR rely on outside network (I'm in New Zealand, data caps are real here, so sending a music file to Google so that I can download/stream it back to my house isn't good data value. (edited add remark on streaming+ typos)

Aldiko is one of the first apps I bought. Haven't used it in over a year, and that was just to test it.

There are basically two schools of thought in what makes a good ebook reader, and understanding them will help you understand the different opinions out there. First you have the book replicators, like Aldiko, Kindle/Nook, Fabrik, and others. These try to emulate the "book reading experience" with fancy fonts, wide margins, textured backgrounds, and page turning animations. Then you have simple text readers (FBReader, couple others), which offer greater control over how the text is laid out. You can remove the margins and line spacing, use a "normal" font, and have the text white on black (or black on white).

FBReader is one of the only ones that is completely free, and open source, and lets you use your own .epub ebooks.

Teamviewer is nice for going the other way. Controlling a remote computer desktop from your phone. Handy for and secure for transferring files in either direction also. Great for helping relatives out with computer problems remotely or accessing your own machine when away from home.

I agree FBReader is my favorite reader for Android. Frankly the only thing it doesn't do that I want is sync last page read between my phone and my laptop. I understand there might be a possibility of doing this if phone is rooted, but I certainly have no interest in that solution after having rooted a phone before and regretted it immensely. Also for wireless moving of files, I bought the WiFi File Explorer Pro, I think it was 7 dollars, and it works perfectly every time. It's fast and easy to use, so much better than carrying a cable with me to move books between my laptop and phone.

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

Are you only looking for something to stream? I use PowerAmp for stuff on my phone and Google Music to stream the rest from their service that lets you store up to 20k tracks for free.

I Agree PowerAmp is one of the finest audioplayers. I use for streaming Google Music or Subsonic - which has a client for your phone and sets up a Java-based webserver (it even scrobbles audio streams from a multitude of web sources, and can even do videos and movies and transform the stream in realtime (i.e. a bluray quality movie to 500kbits over the air) but the server is a bit of a bitch to set up and not really for "non-techies"

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

Most Android phones/tablets don't have native FLAC support built in but there's a few apps on the market that can read them. Check out Winamp Pro for example. If you go the transcoding route Subsonic is pretty popular. You could also try setting up your music with a DLNA server program such as PS3 Media Server (originally for PS3, now for most everything) and a DLNA browser app.

Oh and the main exception to the blanket statement of not having FLAC support is Archos. Since they were originally in the personal music/video player market they still view their Android tablets as primarily media consumers and try to throw the kitchen sink of codecs at them. I have no personal experience with their newer devices though.

I setup my own music share to stream primarily over the internet with a homegrown Icecast stream controlled over a private webpage so I don't really use any of the solutions I offered as my use case is quite different from yours. My system would be quite clunky for just listening to music in different places at home. I think your best bet is probably the PS3 Media Server and after that if you can't find a good DLNA browser to try out Subsonic.

for quick exchange within my home LAN I use the SMB protocol in ES Explorer (free filemanager) to access my stuff on my LAN systems. Alternatively Websharing File/Media Sync app, which turns your Android into a mini webserver to remotely transfer files from any PC to the phone. Works even over the cellular network.

There's really no need for Calibre Companion if you have a decent ereader app, and frankly $2.99 is a ridiculous price for what it does. Calibre has a built-in OPDS server which is quite easy to setup, and once it's running there are a number of ereader apps that will connect directly to it, allow you to browse your calibre library and download books directly to your app: Mantano (easily the best ereader for android), Moon+, Aldiko, Cool Reader and FBReader all have OPDS functionality built-in, as do most of the other independent ereader apps. Calibre Companion's functions are completely redundant unless you insist on using one of the ereader apps tied-in to its own store like Nook or Kobo (no surprise - they don't want to make it easy to get books from other sources).

There's a port of Samba to Android. It does exactly what you'd expect, and makes your files browsable as a bog standard SMB network share. No need screwing about with inferior interfaces and stupid software when you can do it the proper way.

I use Subsonic. For a donation to the project (20 euros suggested) you get to use a mobile client and video streaming; for free you get music streaming through a Web browser plus non-obtrusive ads. It's pretty solid, although at the moment video streaming on all platforms requires Flash; HTML5 is being worked on.

Desktop platforms also use Flash for playing music, but mobile platforms don't.

The official Android Subsonic client in the Google Play store will stream ads even after you donate due to a technical limitation, but on the project's forum is a link to a side-loadable app without ads; it's a technical limitation that the author has limited control over.

edit: the server component is cross-platform. I've got it running on Ubuntu Server, but you can get it for Linux, Windows, Mac, or anything that you can get Apache Tomcat running on. It does transcoding from a large variety of video and audio formats as well.

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

I've been using PlugPlayer to stream from my NAS. Seems to work fairly well, but I haven't really taken the time to learn everything it can do.

For reading ePubs, I just use Nook (I had to use the Tunnelbear app to make it look like I was in the US to get it).

It works great for me, it can add ePubs from beyond the Nook store (like from the http://storybundle.com/ ) and has nice and smooth page turning animation (almost every reader doesn't and it does add a nice touch, and the rare reader that did have page turning animation either did a horrible job at it or doesn't allow ePubs from beyond it's store like Play Books)

I really like VLC, in part because it's cross-platform so it's easy to build on what I already know. It's still in beta and, unfortunately, for those in North America, it looks like there's limited availability through play.google.com.

Root your android and install CIFS Manager which allows you to mount network shares as local files on your android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ifsmanagerYou can then use any file manager to copy to your phone/tablet if you need access on -the-go or VPN in to your home network.

Page Turner is an ebook reader that supports syncing the current page across multiple devices (just tied to your email address, I guess), but doesn't have a desktop client. Other than that, it's my new favorite alternative to the Kindle app.

Am I understanding the images in this article correctly? It looks like the author is downloading cbr files and converting them to epub to read in Aldiko? That seems like a complete waste of time when there are some nice comic readers on Android already--I'm a fan of Comica myself.But I do like Aldiko for regular books.

On this subject: any recommendations for a nice audio-oriented Android media player?

I've already got the SMB share full of ripped CDs, and already have the stereo, and can get a Nexus 7 for the same or less as a dedicated piece of hardware(with a much inferior screen) like a squeezebox or one of the Sonos things. Is there an Android media player that ties this together, making it reasonably easy and intuitive to browse/queue/just-shuffle?

I've tried XBMC, and that might be OK when it matures; but the Android platform port is currently pretty dreadful. The various music streaming services all have clients; but I've already got a local share to work with(it's in FLAC, so support for that is best; but batch-encoding isn't out of the question).

Has anybody run across a winner in this area?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Player that has been working awesomely. Best media player I've owned so far.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.